Yup, you can pick your jaw up off the floor, try blinking for a second and don’t forget to exhale! The days have flown by and we are springing into warmer weather and weekend fun! We have put together five of our favorite Spring activities and of course, outfits to match!

What are your Spring plans?! Let us know on social media! Tag us @mudpiegift and use #mudpiegift. We can’t wait to hear all the fun you have planned! And don’t forget to visit Mud-Pie.com to check out the rest of our Spring goodies for your home, kids and most importantly, you!

Did you know that Mud Pie has an in-house watercolor artist that created a lot of our Spring 2017 prints?! Well if you didn’t, let us introduce you!

Meet Caitlin Alderfer, Product Development Artist at Mud Pie. Caitlin started working at Mud Pie almost exactly a year ago (at the end of the month!) She has been painting/drawing/creating things ever since she can remember; her mom is very creative (she paints too in her spare time!) so there was always art supplies and classes during the summer as a kid.

Painting seriously didn’t begin until college though, where she was a Studio Art major, but focused in oil painting and collage. Watercolor painting only began for her about 3 years ago, when she was in grad school for Graphic Design but missed painting. At the time Caitlin had a roommate and limited space, and oil painting involves strong chemicals and is much messier than watercolors, so she decided to give it a try, and has grown from there.

“I have also always been fascinated with watercolor because it is so challenging and unpredictable; the more you learn about it the more you understand how the paint will react when you add water, but it is always a little bit of a surprise,” says Caitlin. “It is also really a challenge because you really only get one shot; if you make a mistake you can’t erase it (for the most part) so you have to be very intentional.”

Watercoloring takes a lot of patience. It depends on the print and how detailed/complex it is. As a general rule, any prints Caitlin designs that begin as a watercolored painting take longer than ones created digitally, mostly because there are so many more steps involved. She begins with sketching the patterns, then after painting she has to load it into the computer to clean up and digitize! It’s a process, but a fun one!

Caitlin loves a lot of the patterns she created for Spring 2017, but her favorite has to be the Midnight Floral pattern for Fashion. Although landing on the final version of this pattern took several weeks, she painted the original watercolor elements on her 2nd or 3rd day working at Mud Pie! “I remember asking if it was ok if I brought in paints to work with and everyone thought I was a little crazy, so it was fun to get to show what I could do so early on,” she says. “I think about my journey at Mud Pie every time I see this print, which makes it special for me. Plus, I’ve always loved florals!”

As crazy as it seems, Caitlin is already starting work on our Spring 2018 prints! And even when watercolor isn’t the right medium for a pattern, you can find Caitlin sketching and drawing by hand before she gets to the computer!

“It has been so much fun getting to see my work, which I’ve previously only seen on paper and canvas, live on products,” Caitlin says!

Which pattern do you enjoy the best from our Spring 2017 line?! Let us know on social media! Tag us @mudpiegift and use #mudpiegift. We can’t wait to hear from you!

One thing we love at Mud Pie is keeping kid’s imaginations alive. From Santa Clause, to the Easter Bunny, to the Tooth Fairy, we have items that will get your little one excited to keep the fantasies alive. Did you know February 28th has been named National Tooth Fairy Day?! Mud Pie has fun gifts to make losing a tooth even more exciting!

Join in the fun and give your child’s pocket buddy a name! Take your kids name and spell it backwards. Then type out a name tag or write one by hand. Tuck the tooth under the heart pocket to keep it safe until the Tooth Fairy arrives!

We think our Tooth Fairy Sets add even more to your little one’s imagination! Get creative with your kiddo and set up an easy way for the tooth fairy to get in and get the tooth! (And this helps from having to potentially wake your child up from reaching under their pillow) Comes in two colors: Blue Tooth Fairy Door&Pink Tooth Fair Set

All of our Tooth Fairy items come ready to give as a gift!Shop all of our Tooth Fairy items onMud-Pie.com! Has your child lost a tooth? We want to see your spin on the Tooth Fairy! Follow us on social media @mudpiegift and use #mudpiegift when posting photos!

Don’t forget to get a personalized Easter Basket for your little ones!

Hop on over toMud-Pie.com and shop our Easter items now! Taking family photos wearing Mud Pie?! We want to see it! Follow us on social media @mudpiegift and use #mudpiegift and you never know, your baby bunny may end up on our channel!

Growing up, we found ourselves tucked away in our playroom, using our imagination and costumes to whisk us away to fantasy land. Well, today we find ourselves wishing we could hop in that time machine we made out of a box and crayons and go back to our childhood. It isn’t just Halloween where dress up costumes come in handy, every day can be a new story for your little one. Help them write their story with these ADORABLE costumes! (And BTW, you are going to want to scroll all the way down to the bottom of this post, WARNING: CUTENESS OVERLOAD AHEAD!!!)

Shop all of these heart melting looks on our website, Mud-Pie.com. Photographing your cuties in these costumes?? We want to see it! Follow us on social media @mudpiegift and use #mudpiegift and you never know, your sweet pea may end up on our channel!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we have the perfect cards and school gifts to make your heart day absolutely lovely!

Print out and put our “You are my happy” card in a frame, or print out and tape a picture of you and your love on the back!

Cut around the heart and write on the back! Stick on a present or slide in an envelope!

Print and write a sweet message on the back. If you want to get creative, go to the store and buy Reese’s Pieces and tape the note to the front of the bag!

Smooches, baby. Print the card below, fold the paper in half and write a sweet message on the inside of the card!

Print gift tags, cut along the shape, hole punch where the white circle is, add pretty ribbon and attach to present! (You can always just tape it onto a present as well!)

Now for the moms and dads who need an easy gift to send with their kids to school!

Print out as many cards as you need, tape to front of a popcorn bag or Poprocks packet! Don’t forget to add who it is from!

Everyone’s giving out candy, what about making your child’s gift a bit healthy! Add a Cutie (orange – you can get at any grocery store!) in a plastic bag and then staple the card to the bag!

Purchase a big bag ofLifesavers and then staple a few to the middle of the card! Easy and affordable!

DIY time with your kiddos! This weekend, spend the day outside! Find a bunch of rocks and bring them inside. Add googley eyesand paint to make a pet rock! Then glue it to the top of the card! If you do not have that much time, staple aPoprocks packet to the top!

To print out the cards, save the image to your computer and then print! We hope these pre-made cards give you more time to spend with your loved ones! We want to see how you use our cards. Follow us on social media (@mudpiegift) and use #mudpiegift when posting pictures!

The big game is coming up and we can’t believe football season is almost over! And that means only two more weekends to show off how cute your future quarterback is or how precious your cheerleader is! Uniforms have been washed and equipment is packed and ready to go. It is time to score now for the big game!

We LOVE this idea. If you are looking for an adorable outfit for your cheerleader, purchase theFootball Two Piece Set, as well as theReversible Glitter Tutu. Put aside the bottoms in the two piece set and dress her up in the tutu! How cute is this?! (Or, for colder days, leave the bottoms on and put the tutu on top!)

Time to dress up your all-star and get him ready for kickoff! Every future QB (or running back, offensive tackle, linebacker, kicker, you get it, football player!) needs good head protection! Make sure his head is covered in the Chunky Football Knit Hat. Keep his uniform clean and stain-free with the Game Day Football Bibs. Now time to talk cleats. For those getting around on foot, slide on these adorableFootball Socks!For those who prefer their knees, slip on these Football Knee Pads, because no one likes turf burn!

After a long first half, your little cutie needs some halftime rest. Mud Pie has exactly what you need to make sure they are well rested and ready for the final two quarters! Put your little one in the Football Convertible Gown or the super cozy Football Bunting.

Imagine how it would feel to hold the big trophy over your head? Now go to your shopping cart at Mud-Pie.comand check out. Same feeling, right? You’ll score BIG with these catches and you’ll forever feel like you are #1! Now off to be your cuties biggest fan!

The holidays are FINALLY here!! And that means A LOT of time with your family, friends and loved ones! Other than enjoying delicious food, laughing over old memories and unwrapping gifts, you’ll have free time on your hands this weekend. It’s our version of Game Night: Holiday Edition! Here are a few fun games you can add to your family time!

Christmas Bingo can be so much fun, especially when the markers are chocolate! Print out as many boards as you need and get playing!

Now this game is one of our favs. You can play it two ways. First way, you need a few wrapped presents, mittens or oven mitts and a pair of dice. The first person starts with the oven mitts next to the present. When that player puts on the mittens and tries to unwrap the present, the person to their right rolls the dice. They keep rolling until they get doubles. Once they roll a pair, the next player puts on the mittens and tries to unwrap the gift, while the person to their right rolls the dice! The person who opens the present completely gets to keep it!

The second way is just as fun. For this game, you will need a bunch of small boxes to wrap and as many pieces of blank paper as you have small boxes. You will then draw the words (or use a picture) SANTA on one of the pieces of paper. Place each piece of paper into one of the boxes and wrap them. Let’s say you have a group of ten people. So you will have 10 wrapped boxes that have pieces of paper in them, one has the picture or word SANTA. At the same time, each person puts on their mittens and grabs their box! You unwrap until you find out if you have SANTA inside your box. If you don’t, you can steal someone who is still going to try to see if their box has it! Winner is the one who gets the SANTA and of course they get a prize!

This website has 25 super creative party games. Check out all of them and then tell us what you think!

Did you know Hanukkah starts on Christmas Eve? Regardless of which holiday you celebrate, try out the Dreidel game! If you hdo not have a pack of dreidels, here is a print out you can cut and glue together. For this game, all you will need is a driedel and a bunch of gelt (gold chocolate coins)! You can also use pennies, Jelly Beans, or other small objects! Each player puts one piece of their gelt into the center, this will be known as the pot. The first person spins the dreidel and waits until it lands on a side. Bellow is a graph of what happens when each letter is landed on!

If the pot becomes empty, all players add one piece of their gelt back into the pot. If the player runs out of gelt, they lose, but if they end up with all the gelt, they win!!!

This game is perfect if you have a bunch of little ones hanging around! All you will need for this game is chocolate and the dot stickers you would normally use for a garage sale! On the stickers, write a letter or number. Make sure you do each letter or number twice so it has a match.Grab 16 chocolates (can be more of course!) and place one sticker on the bottom of each one. Mix up the chocolates and set them in a row. The first person looks under two chocolates and tries to find a match. Time to use your memory! Keep going until all of the matches are found! Winner will get to eat the most chocolate!

Now this game is SUPER fun! What you will need is a box of Saran Wrap and a bunch of goodies (can be candy, toys, Mud Pie clothes, what ever you want!) Before the game begins, a few people will need to help create the ball! Once it is ready to go, the fun begins! The first person starts with the ball in their lap. They try to unwrap as much as they can while the person to their right rolls a pair of dice. Once that person rolls doubles, the ball moves to the next player and it begins again! There are a lot of goodies in the ball, so keep what you unwrap as a gift! There are other ways you can make the game more fun, like blindfold the person unwrapping, make them wear mittens, use two balls for large groups, or make the person stand up while unwrapping! This game is fun for all ages!

This holiday season, appreciate time with your family. Every day is a gift, so enjoy it! After you have posted yourMud Pie goodies using #mudpiegift, put your phone away and live in the moment! This Game Night: Holiday Edition will be one that creates memories that will last a lifetime!

We are getting closer and closer to single digits! Only 13 days until Christmas (12 until Hanukkah!) Where oh where are the days going?! December, we need you to hold your reindeer! You definitely have all of your gifts purchased and wrapped with the holidays a little less than two weeks away, right? No? Okay good, us either!! But take a deep breath because Mud Pie has put together a list of the perfect gifts for those last minute buys!